Ultimate Chili?

America's Test Kitchen bills this as the "ultimate vegetarian chili". And the recipe is good, don't get me wrong. I'll definitely be keeping it around and making it (or some version of it) again. But I think I'd stop short of calling it the "ultimate" chili.

I made the recipe as directed and sampled it at the end of cooking. It was tasty. But it was definitely better after a few tweaks. And I think I'd make a few more if I made it again as well.

Ultimate Vegetarian Chili

Adapted from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1kg assorted dried beans¹
• 3 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 dried ancho chiles
• 2 dried California or New Mexican chiles
• 1 arbol chile (optional)
• 1/2 c. chopped walnuts
• 14g dried porcini mushrooms²
• 4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 1/4 c. canola oil (or other neutral oil)
• 1kg onions, chopped
• 1L water
• 500mL vegetable broth
• 2/3 c. bulgur³
• 4 c. chopped plum tomatoes⁴
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 1 jalapeño, minced⁵
• 6 garlic coves, minced
• 3 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp. roasted garlic paste (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 c. fresh cilantro, minced

Directions

1. Dissolve salt in 3L cold water. Add beans and soak (at room temperature) overnight.
2. Drain and rinse the beans. Set aside.
3. Place dried chiles on baking tray and roast at 300°F (150°C) for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, toast walnuts⁶.
5. Grind chiles, mushrooms, oregano, and cumin seeds and set aside.
6. Heat oil⁷ and add onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
7. Add ground chiles, mushrooms, oregano, and cumin and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
8. Add beans, water, and vegetable broth.
9. If using range/oven: Bring to a boil, cover, then transfer to 300°F (150°C) oven to cook for 45 minutes.
   If using InstantPot: Cook at high pressure for 20 minutes.
10. Add bulgur, walnuts, tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, dark soy, light soy, brown sugar, and roasted garlic. Stir to combine, cover, and continue to cook.
    If using oven: Place back in oven for ~2 hours.
    If using InstantPot: Slow cook on high for 1 hour.
11. Stir in vinegar, garnish with cilantro, and serve.

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¹ I used a 50-50 mix of kidney beans and black beans. ^Back
2 Use shiitake if you can find them. ^Back
3 The recipe calls for medium grind bulgur. I could only find coarse white bulgur or fine brown bulgur. I ended up going with the fine. I think any grind would probably be okay, it just depends what sort of mouthfeel you're going for. I think I would actually prefer the medium, but fine grind is still perfectly acceptable. ^Back
4 Feel free to use tinned diced tomatoes for this. I just had a tonne of fresh tomatoes on hand that needed to be eaten, so they went into the chili. ^Back
5 I'd be tempted to replace the fresh jalapeño with an equivalent quantity of pickled next time. ^Back
6 The original recipe called for walnuts to be toasted and then finely ground. I did this and found the results to be acceptable. That said, I think that just toasting chopped walnuts and not bothering to grind them down further would be even better. ^Back
7 I used medium heat on the InstantPot sauté setting. I'd recommend medium-high for electric ranges or medium for gas. ^Back